Finance Videos

Volkswagen to pay up $15.3 billion

Volkswagen forges U.S. deal to buy back or fix about a half million polluting diesel cars and set up environmental and consumer compensation funds. Bobbi Rebell reports.

TRANSCRIPT +

German carmaker Volkswagen will pay more than $15 billion to settle charges that it cheated on U.S. diesel emissions tests.
The settlement was formally filed by the Justice Department on Tuesday.
TrueCar's Patrick Min.
(SOUNDBITE) PATRICK MIN, SENIOR INDUSTRY INSIGHTS ANALYST, TRUECAR, (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"The settlement for Volkswagen is really the first step that they've made publicly after the admission of fault they made publicly in September of last year. So, the amount of 15 billion dollars, far and away the largest amount in U.S. history, is really the first step in terms of setting aside money in order to repair vehicles or actually buy them back from owners."
The deal also provides almost five billion for environmental and consumer compensation funds.
Despite the big price tag, Volkswagen shares rose on Thursday, making up some ground after falling nearly twenty percent since the emissions cheating was exposed.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman pointed out that the deal does not in any way resolve the consumer and environmental penalty claims of the states.
(SOUNDBITE) ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL, NEW YORK STATE, (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"This is an impressive settlement. It is an unprecedented settlement. But it is not the end of of our investigation of Volkswagen, our of our commitment to hold Volkswagen accountable for its unlawful conduct."
Volkswagen expects to begin buying back vehicles in October, when a U.S. judge gives final approval to the settlement, and start fixes in November.

SPONSOREDSTORIES

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.

*All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.